Not Over Yet
by C. O. Rosette
Summary: Book-verse. Coraline thinks she's done, that it's all over. That is what the lost children said, isn't it? Apparently not, because as Coraline tries her best to move on with her life, she keeps seeing signs of the past summer that are all too horrifyingly familiar. Can Coraline protect her friends and their world before they are trapped forever...again?
1. Chapter 1

It is both amazing and devastating how fast the summer ends. Coraline sure knew what that was like, except in her case only the devastating feature applied. It seemed like she had closed her eyes for just a moment at the end of spring and the next time she opened them it was already the beginning of fall. This was nothing new. It happened to her every year. The special thing about this year was that for the first time, Coraline didn't seem to mind all that much. In fact, after the way she had spent her first summer in her new apartment, she sort of welcomed change. The beginning of school and a new routine would be good for her, both she and her mother had decided. Coraline was excited to get away from being locked away in her boring house with her boring television with it's boring talk shows, not to mention the _boooring_ microwave food she ate every night because she still couldn't bring herself to eat whatever her dad had made. Eventually, he seemed to have gotten the picture that she refused to take up anything he offered her and stop making enough soup or stew for three. It was only just for him and her mother now. But Coraline was especially excited to go to school and make new friends. Sure all their dingy, school clothes would still be dingy and all look exactly the same, but Coraline could live with that. She couldn't always have everything she wanted. She didn't really _want_ everything she wanted.

On the subject matter of getting Coraline to school, Miss Spink and Forcible had explained that there was a bus stop not far from their apartments. The problem was that the stop was much too far to walk to, but also much too short to drive to as well. "Don't you worry, little Miss Coraline," Miss Spink assured Coraline and her family a few days before school started. "We will drive you to school, it's no problem for us. We have plenty of time on our hands!"

"What do you say, Coraline?" Coraline's father prompted her.

"Thank you," Coraline said curtly to Miss Spink. She had seemed to be very enthusiastic about about driving her to school.

So, the morning of her first day of school, Miss Spink and Forcible drove Coraline to her new school in their banged up jeep. The two women had spent the whole car trip arguing about something Coraline could not very well comprehend, as always. She thought she heard something about someone named Rameau Snayfew among their unintelligible jabbering, but she couldn't make out anything that really made any sense to her. As they pulled up to the front of the school, Coraline peered out the window to discover the schoolhouse yard. It was another one of your generic school buildings. It was of average size- maybe two to three floors high-, the school walls were painted red and so was the roof, though it was a bit leaning more towards rouge if you asked Coraline. At the very peak there was a steeple which contained a bell, the bell to dismiss classes, Coraline thought. The front schoolyard had a path coming from the sidewalk leading to it's two front doors. In the middle of the lawn there was a flagpole that kept constantly clanking against the metal in a very annoying fashion. Also on the front lawn were children, many many children talking and playing. Coraline hadn't seen so many of her peers in one place for the whole summer. It was refreshing in a way. The brick walls blocked out most of the rest of the school grounds from sight. It kind of reminded Coraline of the door at the end of her apartment, and how it covered everything that was behind it from sight. She wondered what kind of things lurked behind the brick walls of her school. The only thing they revealed behind them were the tall, pine tree-covered mountains that seemed to go on forever.

Their jeep slowed to a stop by the sidewalk. Coraline stepped out. "Take care, Missy! Be careful! Don't get lost on your way to class!" Miss Spink and Forcible's voices called to her. Coraline waved goodbye to them as they drove off down the street. She turned and started walking up the sidewalk to the school building. She held a yellow schoolbag holding all the supplies necessary for the new year. Coraline's teacher had given Coraline's family a list of what she would need for class. Her parents informed her that this list was given to all her classmates as well, so she wasn't being given any kind of "special treatment." Coraline had no idea what that meant.

"Hey! You with the blue hair!" Coraline heard a voice from behind her. She turned her head to see a boy that looked about her age hurrying toward her.  
She wondered if this was Wyborn, a boy her parents had ecstatically described to her. They had told there was a boy her age that was to be in the same class as her. They seemed very into the idea of she and him meeting each other. Grown-ups still seemed to be under the impression that just because to people were the same age, meant that they would get along. Coraline knew for a fact this was not necessarily true. There were a number of people she wasn't very fond of at her old school. She dreaded the idea of meeting one of those people here.

The boy's pace slowed to a walk as he finally reached her. He had messy, brown hair and was wearing a long, black raincoat with reflectors on it even though it wasn't raining. Although it was peculiar, Coraline found herself actually taking a liking to his fashion sense. It was so very different everyone else's dull, drab uniforms, and it reminded her of something she would wear on a regular, non-school day, "Is your name C-"

"_Coraline,"_ Coraline cut him off before he could pronounce her full name, putting extra emphasis on the "o" part. "Coraline Jones. Is your name Wyborn?"

"Yep. That's me, Wybie Lovat," Wyborn stuck out his hand. "My parents told me a new girl was transferring to our school this year."

"I figured," Coraline said curtly, shaking his outreached hand.

"They said we were even in the same class," Wybie said just as excitedly as her parents had. Just then the bell rang. All the children stopped doing whatever they were doing and filed in through the double doors into the building. "Well Jonesie, we better get to class." Wybie grabbed Coraline's arm and pulled her along with him up the sidewalk. Jonesie, Coraline thought. What an odd nickname. But she figured in the end that it was better than Caroline. What's in a name, anyway?


	2. Chapter 2

At first Coraline and Wybie fell in step at a formidably steady pace, hoping not to be caught an inch outside school grounds after the warning bell had rung. It was not until they finally reached the front doors of the school building that they finally slowed to a decent-paced walk. "Let me get that for you," Wybie excused himself and held the door open for Coraline, waiting for her to finish passing through the doorway before letting himself do the same.

"Thanks," she murmurs curtly, passing him and entering the hallway. Coraline thinks this boy is trying too hard. He doesn't have to be all gentlemanly. He's the only person in the entire school that Coraline can even remotely call an acquaintance- unless one of the people from her old school just so happened to transfer to this one coincidentally, but Coraline doubts that- so they might as well be friends.

They continued to walk down the hallway. They must have been going at a slower pace than Coraline originally assumed because all the other children were suddenly far ahead of them, their voices coherent, but at a far enough distance that if you tried to listen in, there wouldn't be a voice you'd be able to understand and distinguish from the others. The only lighting in the halls came from the three-foot-apart fluorescents above. Dull, navy, blue lockers lined the halls that seemed to go on into eternity, or at least that's what they looked like to Coraline. Coraline hoped to death that Wybie knew what he was doing. He seemed a lot like the air-headed, scatterbrained type, and she wasn't quite sure how surprised she would be if she suddenly asked where their classroom was and it turned out he didn't have a clue where they were going.

Finally they turned into a hall where the students finally filed into all their respective classrooms. "Alright, Jonsie," Wybie started with a sigh. "This is our class."

Relieved that he actually knew what he was doing, Coraline thanked Wybie again for walking her to class and took a step into the bright light of the classroom. She hadn't noticed how dark it had been in the hallway. She took a look around the classroom. Just like outside of the building, the room seemed a lot like your everyday, run-of-the-mill classroom. All the desks were arranged in a perfect square, all facing the front which held an ordinary, green chalkboard with a few, excessive notes written on it. The teacher's desk was to the side, beneath the chalkboard. It had all the assortments needed for a typical teacher's desk like a name tag at the front- clearly displaying her name (which happened to be Ms. McCoryn),- an apple most likely presented to the teacher by a student, plain, black, composition, grade book, and a paperweight snow globe with a little, red schoolhouse that looked just like the school they inhabited sitting alone on a snowy hilltop. Coraline cringed upon spotting another snow globe. Obviously it had to have nothing at all to do with her summer predicament, but still made her all the more uneasy about this new school. There weren't many papers on the desk, as it was only the first day of school. There were posters on the walls with information about the various letters of the alphabet and the floors were all made of bare sequoia.

Ms. McCoryn was issuing students into desks, "Take a seat in any desk in the middle of the room and quiet down. The bell to start class is about to ring." Ms. McCoryn was a petite yet charismatic, pretty, young woman with curly, brown hair that shined like the sun, light, brown skin, green eyes wearing a plaid, dress top. Coraline thought it very peculiar that a teacher dress this way in an ordinary private school. It seemed a bit too fancy to her.

The only two available seats not filled by other students were two empty desks in the back of the room. Coraline and Wybie hurried and to the back and quickly sat down in the desks just as the starting bell sounded.

"Good morning students! My name is Ms. McCoryn and welcome to your first day of class," Ms. McCoryn spoke again. A few of the students halfheartedly murmured a response similar to another good morning but it was clear none of them wanted to be there. The rest of the morning went as expected, a very typical first day for a very typical school. Ms. McCoryn started out by establishing the class rules and then they play a little game where they all moved their desks including Ms. McCoryn's into a big circle and went around it, taking turns introducing themselves.

Coraline found herself liking a majority of her classmates. There was one tan-skinned, blonde girl named Kylie who seemed thoroughly optimistic and friendly about being there with everyone, a big grin never leaving her face, which was more than anything Coraline could say about most of the others. There was also a stout boy with dark hair and skin color similar to Ms. McCoryn's, Jacob, who seemed pretty nice. The only student that Coraline could even come close to having a problem with would be a certain, redheaded girl named Rachel. She couldn't really put her finger on it. There was just something about her. Maybe it was the way she sat, silently smirking, and sizing everyone up like she was the only knew something bad was going to happen to all of them. Then the way she eyed Coraline, like she knew her from somewhere, it was fairly unnerving, but Coraline brushed it off, knowing that there was nothing here that was anymore dangerous than her own imagination. Still, she decided it's best to just avoid the girl altogether.

Her plan didn't seem to last long though as once the bell rang to go eat lunch and Coraline, Wybie, and the other students piled out, Coraline swore she could feel Rachel's eyes on her back. She shook it off at first as she figured it was just her imagination again. But as she got up to follow Wybie out the door, she felt the disturbing presence of a certain someone's hand on her shoulder. She turned around, knowing who it was and that she was completely trapped and was forced to face this creepily mysterious girl.

Slowly and shakily, she turned her head to face the ginger-haired girl, "C-can I help you?"

"Welcome, Coraline Jones," Rachel said in a sadistic monotone, keeping her aloof smirk. She reached into her pocket before Coraline could say anything back and pulled out a folded, up piece of paper. "This is for you." She shoved the paper into Coraline's hand before brushing past her toward the door. Coraline really did not want to know what was on that piece of paper, but she was so startled by the sudden contact that she dropped it and it fell to the floor. She couldn't help but stare down at it as it unraveled on the floor. She gasped as it revealed the all too familiar writing scribbled onto the paper.

Wybie's voice snapped her back to reality, "Jonsie, come on! The lunch line will build up if we don't get there first!"

"Oh...right," Coraline says dazedly. She shakes her head and hurries out the door after Wybie. But as she walks down the hall, toward the cafeteria, her mind still dwells on the ink-encrypted message on Rachel's note that said, "THERE ARE STILL MORE WAYS IN AND OUT."


	3. Chapter 3

"You're gonna love the people here," Wybie exclaimed his hand on Coraline's shoulder as he led her through the cafeteria. They came to an abrupt stop when they reached the end of the line to buy hot lunch, which also happened to be right behind several children wearing brightly colored tee-shirts and giggling obtusely about something completely unknown to Coraline or Wybie. Whatever it was, Wybie's scrunched up, disgusted face gave away that he didn't like it. "Well, at least some of the people here..."

"Who are they?" it didn't take Coraline long to figure out that Wybie wasn't particularly fond of these kids. Coraline could somewhat relate, having people at her old school she undyingly despised.

"It doesn't matter who they are," Wybie responded, annoyed and very eager to change the subject. His voice then hushed down to almost a whisper. "Just try to stay as far away from them as humanly possible. Those kinds of people aren't good for your head."

Coraline and Wybie proceeded down to the serving station, absentmindedly following the line as it shifted about unevenly. The choices were very select today making Coraline wonder if the school menu was always this tiny. All there were was what looked like a fish hamburger, a blueberry smoothie, and some caesar salad. Wybie grabbed everything there was available, which really was hardly anything at all. Coraline halfheartedly stuck her tray out to the lunch lady and asked for just a small bit of salad. She figured Wybie had enough food on his tray that she could steal from whenever she felt like it. The lady grabbed a clump of what Coraline thought was lettuce leaves mixed in with some cashews and covered in salad dressing with her tongs and plopped it on Coraline's tray. Coraline muttered her thanks before rushing off to catch up with Wybie.

"I do know some people you will like," Wybie said to Coraline as he led her to their table. "They're good guys, even if they're not the brightest." Wybie led her to a table with three other kids at it. Coraline recognized Kylie and Jacob from their class. She didn't know who the bronze-skinned boy to the right of them was.

"Hey Coraline," Kylie smiled at her and waved from the left of Jacob who smiled and did the same.

"Hey you guys," Coraline did her best to smile as sweetly as possible at her new friends as she and Wybie took their places at the table across from the three. She really did want to make a good impression on these people. She just couldn't shake the memory of Rachel's note out of her mind.

"Coraline, meet Freddy!" Wybie enthusiastically motioned to the, short, scrawny, bronze boy across from him.

"Hi!" Coraline chirped cheerfully, hoping to come off as a fun person.

The looked away, shyly, muttering something that sounded like a soft, "Hello." Was it something she said?

"Don't mind him, Jonsie," Wybie said haughtily, batting a hand in Freddy's direction. "We've grown to let Freddy not be a killjoy to our group and I suggest you do the same."

"Fred's not a killjoy," Kylie said in his defense. She turned her attention to Coraline. "He's actually really nice once you get to know him. Isn't that right, Jacob?"

"Yep," Jacob nodded and patted Freddy comfortingly on the back. The corner of Fred's mouth rose a little bit in a rueful smile but it was clear it was forced and his eyes still failed to meet Coraline's. Coraline felt she would've been more sorry for him if he didn't remind him so strikingly of Rachel.

Lunch that first day went on like that for a while with Wybie, Kylie, and Jacob each chattering ardently amongst themselves. Coraline didn't say much. Neither did Freddy, though Coraline assumed he wasn't much of a speaker anyway. It wasn't because Coraline didn't like these new friends. She did like them and was flattered that they took to her so easily sans Freddy. It was because she was still unable to forget the note Rachel gave her earlier that day. The one about the ways in and out. Coraline knew that handwriting all too well. Who was this Rachel kid, anyway and why did she have that note in the first place. It can't be a trick and Coraline specifically remembers the cat saying that all the ways in and out of that..._world _went flat. Whatever the reason, she prefers not to know what it is.

Coraline really thought she was done and could move on with her life. All she wanted to do was forget. She had a very unsettling feeling that this problem won't go away as long as she and Rachel were within the same vicinity, and as much as she wanted to forget, she knew the events of last summer were coming back to bite her nonetheless.

* * *

Lunch soon passed and the students were let out for recess. Wybie, Kylie, and Jacob all wanted to show Coraline around the schoolyard. Coraline looked around for a sign of Freddy, but he had disappeared completely. The others didn't seem to mind or even take much notice. It didn't seem to make a difference whether or not he tagged along. When Coraline asked them where he went off to, they just shrugged her off, "He's probably out writing poems about the beauty of nature or being antisocial. Don't worry. He's bound to bounce back sooner or later." This did not ease Coraline's worries one bit. If anything, it worried her even more. She felt as if no one at this school was safe away from her sight if they had any connection to Rachel and Coraline's other mother.

The three children proceeded to show Coraline around the school campus, "...and here we have the swing set! As you can see, each swing is a different color from the next, resulting in all six swings making up the six colors of the rainbow..."

"Fascinating..," Coraline muttered halfheartedly as Wybie pointed out the color of each swing in ascending order of the colors of the rainbow. To her, he sounds just like those overly dedicated tour guides she and her family would always see whenever they went out traveling. She didn't need to know every single detail of the schoolyard. It was exactly the same as any other school she'd been to, if not even more generic being a private school with everyone wearing the exact same clothes with the exact same books. It was so bland, it made Coraline almost miss the thrills of this past summer.

Though that wish was startlingly cut short when a familiar voice sounded behind the four friends, "Hey, guys! You'll never guess what I found!"


End file.
